In Polish orthography, sz represents a voiceless retroflex fricative/ʂ/. It usually corresponds to š or ш in other Slavic languages. It is usually approximated by English speakers with the "sh" sound (and conversely, Polish speakers typically approximate the English digraph sh with the "sz" sound), although the two sounds are not completely identical.
These examples are Kashubian words that use the letter sz, with the English translation following.
szãtopiérz = bat
szczawa = sorrel
szczãka = jaw
szczëka = pike (fish type)
szerszéń = hornet
Hungarian
Sz is the thirty-second letter of the Hungarian alphabet. It represents /s/ and is called "esz" /ɛs/. Thus, names like Liszt are pronounced /list/list.
In Hungarian, even if two characters are put together to make a different sound, they are considered one letter (a true digraph), and even acronyms keep the letter intact.
Hungarian usage of s and sz is almost the reverse of the Polish usage. In Hungarian, s represents /ʃ/ (a sound similar to /ʂ/). Therefore, the Hungarian capital of Budapest is natively pronounced (/ˈbudɒpɛʃt/), rhyming with standard English fleshed rather than pest.
There is also a zs in Hungarian, which is the last (forty-fourth) letter of the alphabet, following z.
Examples
These examples are Hungarian words that use the letter sz, with the English translation following:
szabó = tailor
szép = beautiful
szikla = rock
szőke = blonde
szülő = parent
szusi = sushi
Olaszország = Italy
Wade–Giles
In the Wade–Giles system of Romanization of Chinese, ⟨sz⟩ is used to represent the syllabic /s/ with the "empty rime". See Wade–Giles → Empty rime.